aaamusic | On 27, Sep 2011

Billy Corgan has said he feels the release of their new album ‘Oceania’ will be a make or break moment for the band.

The band, who have taken to releasing single tracks online as part of their ‘Teargarden By Kaleidyscope’, will put ‘Oceania’, their ninth studio record, later this year and Corgan has said how it is received will define the future of the band.

He told Billboard: “If we’re able to get that sense that something is happening again and get people to rally behind us a bit, I think the next three, four years will be very interesting for the band. I think if [‘Oceania’] basically hits the same wall a lot of the other stuff has hit, we’re going to have to step back and really evaluate where we’re going, because it’s a tremendous amount of energy to put out to just feel like you’re throwing a pebble in the ocean.”

Corgan has said that he overestimated the impact that releasing music straight on to the internet would have and felt that he needed to go back to making an album in the traditional manner again to have a real impact.

Asked why the band had gone to releasing music in a traditional album format:

I just saw we weren’t getting the penetration in to everybody that I would have hoped. I mean, we have 1.3 million followers on our Facebook page, right? So you think you put a song up and 1.3 million people are going to see it, but only if they’re looking at the exact moment it goes up. They’re not necessarily searching and their friends aren’t necessarily going to tell them about it. I just saw that we weren’t reaching the sort of casual person who still gets their information from traditional sources. So I thought, ‘What do I need to do?’ and then I thought, ‘OK, I’ll go back to making an album.’

The singer also spoke about the album and said it features: “Some of the most melodic work I’ve ever done, but somehow it rocks pretty hard, too. It’s probably the most open-sounding album I’ve ever made. The general description I’ve heard from people who have heard it is that it reminds them of the Pumpkins in the way they like the Pumpkins, but somehow it sounds new.”